


Blush, lads, like any rose

by kyriacarlisle



Category: Society of Gentlemen - K. J. Charles
Genre: M/M, Post-Series, Yearning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2020-03-08 06:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18889297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyriacarlisle/pseuds/kyriacarlisle
Summary: He finds Dominic in the library, turning something small over in his hands.





	Blush, lads, like any rose

He finds Dominic in the library, turning something small over in his hands, spinning it briefly on the table before cupping his palm over it to stop the metallic chiming: a ring, Silas sees, when he’s closer. Dom picks it up again to slip onto one fingertip and then the next, and the next, back and forth, until quite suddenly he brings his clenched fist to his lips, as if to kiss, or press a cry back behind his teeth. Alone there in the library, clutching his trinket - _something Richard gave him_ , Silas thinks - eyes closed, knuckles white, he looks smaller and more guarded than he has in many months. He imagines how Dominic would shrink back and then turn to fight if Silas were to tear away his keepsake, fling it bouncing into a corner, but the vicious momentary jealousy passes when he puts his hands on Dominic’s shoulders and Dom relaxes at once and tips his head to rest against Silas’s arm.

“I found this in one of the drawers by the map case,” Dominic says, breath warm on Silas’s fingers. “It must be generations old; Richard’s people collect jewelry like magpies.” In his open hand the ring, a modest gold band, hands and heart, a love token from some long-dead lad to his lass, Silas thinks, except that the inside is engraved, and now he knows what has put that particular longing look on Dom’s face.

“Read it for me, Tory,” he says, and watches the flush rise on Dom’s cheek.

“I can’t,” Dom says.

“If you want to wear it, you’ll have to,” Silas says, putting his own thumb through the ring to press the nail into Dominic’s palm.

Dominic shakes his head, a jerky, curtailed motion, but whispers, “‘I long to have,’” and pauses long enough that Silas expects it will end here, Dom’s face still turned aside, half hidden, his voice choked by his own want; that in a moment he will set the ring aside, pull himself upright and go forth, tidy and untouched. But he continues: “‘I long to have, but blush to crave.’ Silas, Silas, _please_.”

He could have Dom on his knees here, hair disordered and cheeks burning, mid-afternoon in Richard’s library, with the household about its business just outside. Silas takes up the ring and slips it over the knuckle, kissing Dom’s fingertips even as he crushes metal against bone. “Ah, Tory,” he says, “you’re pretty when you blush.”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this ring](https://inclineto.tumblr.com/post/183275620919/moonandwomb-17th-c-posy-ring-bearing-the#notes), of course: a strong contender for the title of Seventeenth Century’s Sexiest Jewelry.


End file.
